ALERT Basic Training is the first step on the toughest journey you’ll ever take – being a man of God for a lifetime.

“Forging” requires heat or concentrated effort with the goal of transformation into greater usability. Forging also aptly describes the process that the men of Unit 54 experienced in their Basic Training. The ultimate goal of ALERT is for the men who have completed training here to leave with both the desire and the capacity to influence the world around them for Christ. These young men are being prepared for meeting immediate pressing needs as well as for eventually leading their own homes, churches, and communities by their examples as men of God. At ALERT, they are hopefully being molded into extraordinary men!

The ALERT Unit 54 Advancement was held on December 4, 2015, the culmination of nine weeks of intense spiritual and physical “forging.” Forty young men completed this Basic Training. Each young man experienced the personal “heat” of the forging process. The tempering rigors included situations such as taking patiently difficulties or inconveniences, developing personal disciplines, and learning teamwork to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible alone. Ultimately, to be successful in this process, the Basic trainees had to turn to and rely upon God.

However, Unit 54 had another unusual challenge: the unique opportunity to do their entire final Criterion Event in cold, pouring rain! This event is very difficult to do without the complication of rain, yet these men persevered and gave their very best in the competition. Their endurance and drive seen in the midst of the difficult environmental elements revealed evidence of their growth. The most important area of progress was in their practice of daily personal devotional time. A common report from these men was that they “never realized how valuable the morning devotion time could be,” and that they “really want to keep that up” as they move into other areas of training or head home.

One of the young men had a particularly difficult test to face at the end of the tough nine weeks of Basic Training. The night before Advancement (the ceremony recognizing successful completion of Basic Training) while en route to be at the ceremony, this man’s family was involved in a tragic automobile accident. Several family members were seriously injured and the accident took the life of his mother. In times like these the discipline of utter dependence on the Lord is so important. It has encouraged this young man and kept him focused on God in the midst of a very difficult challenge. We continue to lift him and his family to the Lord in prayer and have been encouraged with reports from those involved in ministering to them. God is sustaining the family in miraculous ways.

Arriving untested in many respects, the young men of ALERT Basic Training Unit 54 left more mature and better equipped physically, spiritually, and emotionally to handle whatever difficulty may come their way. We pray that God may grant the opportunity for many more men to be a part of this unique and life-changing experience. We rejoice in the privilege of seeing God “forge” these young men into extraordinary men, fit for His use! 

For more information about ALERT Basic Training, please visit: www.alertacademy.com.